The 2026 offseason brings a rare chance for teams to change the trajectory of their franchise, with nearly every veteran available to be signed.
At the same time, two new, deep-pocketed teams — the Tempo and the Fire — are joining the league, making competition even stiffer.
Should Sky fans get their hopes up about landing a big fish this time around? Here’s the latest.
Elevating the player experience
Sky CEO Adam Fox says that after recent upgrades to player experience, “there’s nothing now that we’re lacking.” The Sky raised $8.5 million from investors in 2023 and according to Fox are spending much of the 2024 revenue spike.
Here’s where they’re spending:
- Medical staff: The Sky hired Jessica Cohen, a respected physical therapist from the Milwaukee Bucks, as well other trainers from USA Basketball and the Lakers.
- Player security: The Sky brought in Moonshot, a cybersecurity firm that monitors online threats and pushes platforms to remove them. They also added full-time personal security for players, a must given Angel Reese’s profile.
- Wellness: Players get higher-quality meals, top-tier hotels on the road, and unlimited access to ReStore, which offers advanced recovery services.
“You can see they’re listening and trying,” Sky guard Rachel Banham told the Sun-Times of the organization. “They’re trying to hear our experiences and what we need.”
“There’s everything that you need here, it just might not be in the same building,” Kia Nurse added.
Practice facility under construction
Practice facilities remain a significant recruiting tool. The Aces set the trend in 2023, with the Storm and Mercury quickly following. The Sky’s current setup — a public recreation center — was cited when players voted them the league’s worst organization in an Athletic survey earlier this year.
Their new practice facility, management believes, will be ready by the 2026 season.
- Construction update: A significant part of the exterior is in place, though interior work has not begun.
- Final cost: Estimated in the “low 40s,” up from $38 million. The figure isn’t final, with bid packages still outstanding. The original December 2025 timeline was delayed after expanding the project’s footprint.
- Ownership/financing: The building will be owned by the Village of Bedford Park, with the Sky contributing funds for exclusive access. Their 2023 capital raise and bank loans are helping to cover their portion.
If it opens in time, the Sky will be ahead of the Sparks, Sun, Dream, and Wings, who practice in shared spaces and have not yet begun construction on a facility.
But they’re still far from setting the pace. The Liberty, Fever and Fire are building new facilities at roughly twice the cost of the Sky’s. The Sun’s prospective buyer included a $100 million commitment for a new practice site. And the expansion Valkyries renovated a former Warriors facility that cost $1.4 billion.
As long as big infrastructure investments keep teams on the cutting edge, the Sky will likely lag behind franchises owned by billionaires or NBA teams.
Mindset at the top, unchanged
Lagging on facilities, and the free agents they attract, stings for fans after it led to Kahleah Copper’s trade request. Her comments upon joining the Mercury reinforced perceptions that the Sky trailed top teams in other areas too, including food.
So does the spending surge mark a mindset shift? Fox says no — just evolution.
“We’ve always had dialogue with our players and tried to figure out what we can do to enhance the experience of being here,” he told the Sun-Times. “It’s not like a watershed moment where you wake up and say we gotta do more. Things keep evolving. Adding things to the player experience is a part of the maturation of the organization that is matching the growth of…the league.”
One piece of good news for fans: head coach Tyler Marsh, whose former team was the first to build a dedicated practice facility, brings a fresh perspective.
He credits the Sky for boosting the player experience but added that “modernization is the next step of where we’ve got to meet other teams…It’s beyond time for us to catch up to that.”
No Moneyball yet
One race the Sky aren’t yet running is analytics. Using data and analysis to better inform basketball decisions has become a growing focus across the league.
But the Sky do not have dedicated analytics personnel or plans to hire any.
“We have a really hands-on [coaching] staff that likes putting the energy into that type of research,” general manager Jeff Pagliocca said.
Meanwhile the Lynx, Mercury, Storm and Liberty have either whole teams or several staffers focused on it. The Tempo are hiring for a “basketball strategy department” that combines scouting and analytics. And many other organizations have at least one person dedicated to it.
Patience — and pressure from Angel Reese
Regarding practicing in a rec center, Reese has played the good soldier in public.
“As long as there’s a hoop and somewhere to put my bag, I’m cool with hooping,” she said at media day.
At the same time, the Sky’s franchise player knows the standard is rising in women’s basketball. She joined the chorus of players demanding revenue sharing from the league. She played in Unrivaled, the 3×3 offseason league with luxury amenities, and spent All-Star weekend in conversations about what players want in free agency.
“I’ve talked to a lot of great players about even the small things about how they run their organization,” Reese said after All-Star weekend. “And I came back and told the Sky things that we need to add in… especially with this big free agency coming up.”
Pitch still in process
A winning season in 2025 would have been the best start to attracting free agents. Instead, the Sky were eliminated from playoff contention last week.
So what’s left? In his first year, Marsh is upfront that the Sky are still figuring out how to craft a tailored pitch.
“Everyone’s gonna have a facility, everyone’s gonna have great staffs and support teams and things like that,” he told the Sun-Times. “So why Chicago?”
For Marsh, the answer is less about buildings and more about people. He points to the staff, the fan base, the city, the media market and the culture they’re trying to build.
“I think we’ve already hit the corner in terms of what we want to be about and how we handle people,” he said.
What the Sun sale can teach the Sky
The Sky haven’t indicated that selling the team is on the table, but the Sun’s current sale saga offers lessons.
A team without a practice facility is fetching a $325 million sale price — far above the Sky’s $85 million valuation two years ago, and the $10 million Michael Alter paid to found the franchise.
The catch: It’s not a free market. The league is controlling the sale process, so Alter would have to find a buyer that fits the commissioner’s preferences.
Bottom line
The Sky have taken steps forward, but their infrastructure still trails the top teams — and it’s not clear they have a unified vision for competing with a growing pool of deep-pocketed owners.
For hope: look at the Dream and Sparks, who signed major free agents last offseason without a new facility or NBA ownership.
For despair: look at the Valkyries, who have both — and are selling out every game. That’s exactly the type of environment big names will want to join.